Leaves: and their uses as nonsense

by Barbara Maloutas

A chance outline for the consideration of A. Goldsworthy’s work in southwest Scotland

Leaf, or loof, laub, lauf, and (etymologically) as far as lodge and lobby
          Collect and/or divide leaves by color and kind:
          Season and kind determine color. Harvest green leaves in the summer, directly.
          (A leaf is an organ borne by the stem of a plant.) There are specific weeks in
          autumn when the color or colors are most intense. Seasons impose deadlines.
          Lungs are organs inside.
                    Color and leaves
                              Leaves of one color make bigger impact or distinction. The multi-
                              colored leaf is suitable for camouflage in context of the untouched
                              forest – itself, impossible. Temperature and color are linked – in
                              time.
                    Dry leaves
                              Ones of varying colors are difficult to handle as they tend to curl
                              and blow away. Moisture is a tool.
                    Wet (adj.) leaves
                              Wet (v.) leaves by adding water to a fresh autumn harvest. Wet
                              leaves can be applied to such locally found objects as rocks,
                              boulders, fallen tree limbs or rivers.
                              Rivers are a particularly interesting bed.
                                        A bed is a plane
                                                  Occasional turning pools
                                        A river is contained
                                                  Linear movement
                              Energy patterns disturb linearity and are based in materiality
                                        In flotation there may be immobility through anchoring
                                        Quality of shadow depends on sunlight, depth, texture and
                                        speed or lack of it
                              Ripples
                    Other Considerations
                              Moisture supports decomposition
                              The subject as transience
                              Problems as a good teacher
          Leaves and their uses as multiples joined:
          The use of thorns, grass stalks or other methods of joinery (such as water) are
          necessary but not often lasting.
                    Joining may produce linear or specific and shapeless flats
                    Shapeless flats present the least distinction and may be mistaken as native
                    Specific flats can be extremely intrusive
                    Considerations of a new place and where touch begins
                    The craft can be learned and refined – with patience – over years
          Assistance happens:
          Reasonable speed is vital. Helpers are essential. Once acquiring a reputation,
          these are easy to gather. There will be many who wish to be part of a record or
          trace of nature. There remains the question of whether an end is ever an end.
          A good camera is essential:
          The single way to acquire a reputation (and therefore a name), is through
          recording projects from beginning to end or the end of recording.
                    A presence in the frame during recording is not essential
                    There is no other frame
                    Editing shapes the narrative
                    This is not about narrative

Records: memory, recollection, recognition, similarities in differences and differences in
similarities.
          A journal is a personal way.
          A book:
                    A book is a means of survival
                    Thinking of equivalencies – there is no instant in nature
                    A book may be controversial – aesthetics, a hurdle
                              Historical, but static
                              Discomforting, but distant
                              An untrustworthy attention to mediated nature
          A collection of photographs:
                    Objective work
                    An array calls for a grid
                    Without an overview, it may be randomness
                              Uncaptioned albums
                              Every chance is a new chance

Leaf Tourism:
          There are specific weeks in autumn when the color or colors are most intense.
                    Work quickly
                    Focus on the perception of time, while perceiving it
          Seasons impose deadlines.
          Referred to as the leaves are turning.
                    Oikos – house or dwelling
                    Economy and ecology
                    The illusion that an event exists
          Good housekeeping. Keeping it from convention

© Barbara Maloutas. All rights reserved.